Coming home
by BekahAM
Summary: What if the life you remembered, the only life you thought you had ever lived, was all a lie? A little magic, some prophecies, and the truth will come to light when Aria is sent back to her original birthplace. Will her presence help save Middle Earth?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimers- I wish I ****could**** say I did, but unfortunately, I do not own ****The**** Hobbit. **

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I woke on a stormy day in late April, covered in sweat and shaking. It was another dream or more of a foreboding nightmare I should say; A dream filled with memories of a different life, a different time, a different place.

I had been having these dreams for months now, all leaving me with an impending sense of trouble, feeling out of place in my own skin. The fact that I couldn't remember anything from before I was five didn't help either.

As a senior in University, I was the adventurous type, always feeling more at home outdoors and in the mountains. I always had a great sense of direction, ever since I could remember. I loved hiking and backpacking, sometimes being gone for days at a time.

My parents had taught me how to hunt and fish from a young age, they themselves growing up in the woods of the mountains. I learned survival skills and in my high school years I had even taken up martial arts, becoming a second degree black belt.

All of that seemed irrelevant in the simple life I was living in the city, going to Uni and just being a student.

Then I started having these dreams. They were unclear, like faded memories, only grasping parts at a time.

The people in my dreams were different from people that I knew of in modern day 2014. They talked in a long forgotten tongue and in languages I had never heard of. Most were clothed in long tunics and breeches, wearing leather cloaks with fur and large boots. Not to mention the beards. _Everyone _had beards, woman or not, though some were much less pronounced, like the oddly familiar woman that always showed up in my dreams.

She was always screaming, her face flushed and shouting loudly. Every dream that came, I heard a rumble so low it would shake me to the core. At one point, I recognized that I was viewing the dream from the perspective of a young child, much too young to understand what was going on.

The only thing that ever seemed to be clear to me during the dreams was one phrase, spoken from the woman to a man in a deep blue tunic with a fur coat.

"_Take her, keep her safe." _Only it was spoken in a different language that I strangely could understand.

For some reason, I had never really felt like I had belonged here, and for the longest time I had thought it was just my hometown that I was sick of, but the more dreams I got, the more confused I got.

It was spring break at Uni (also the day before my 21st birthday) and I decided that I was going to go home and surprise my parents, mainly because I hadn't seen them since Christmas and I missed them, but when I arrived home, it was like they had known I would be there.

"Mum, Dad, what's wrong?" I asked as I walked through the door, seeing them sitting on the couch, my mum just looking at old pictures with tears in her eyes.

"Come sit, darling." My dad said, motioning for me to sit in the chair across from them. I did so and just stared at them. "We don't exactly know how to say this..."

"Say what? What's wrong?" I asked quickly, hoping it wasn't something serious.

"Do you remember anything from before you turned five, darling?" My mum asked seriously. I tried my hardest to think back and there was nothing. I shook my head to them.

"We found you, Aria. You aren't our real daughter. When you were five, or the doctor guessed that you were five, we found you in the woods here behind the house, just wandering. There was no one in sight and we put up posters, went to the police and everything and no one turned up, so we took you in as our own. " I sat there staring at them in shock. I wasn't theirs?

"This is all you had with you." My dad said as he laid something cold and metal in my hands, I looked down at it, recognizing it as a necklace, having some strange type of runes written on it.

My mum burst out in tears as she handed me a flyer that looked relatively old. I reached out and grasped it shakily, looking at a picture. It was me, no more than five, covered in dirt and wearing odd clothing, a dress of sorts, though it was ripped and stained with black splotches.

I couldn't handle it anymore. I felt the tears bursting from my eyes and I threw the flyer down running out the door without saying a word. My mum tried to stop me but I ran too fast, headed straight for the forest.

I ran with my vision clouded, grasping the necklace tight in my hands, trying to dodge trees and bushes as I went. However, my foot found a root and sent me flying into the nearest tree, hitting my head as I fell, turning my mind into a black pool of darkness.

I woke with a sharp pain in my head, hurting as I fluttered my eyes open.

"Look! She's waking!" I slowly opened my eyes to the masculine voice that spoke as it hovered above me. I lifted my head slightly just to look around me, seeing that I was laying in a patch of thick grass on a particularly hot, sunny day. Hadn't I just been in a forest?

I looked up at the person, well now persons that were hovering over me and gave a small squeal.

"You alright there, lass? You look to have hit your head, and your clothing looks much too big." A man asked. I looked at the group of people that were surrounding me. They looked oddly familiar and the clothing and beards reminded me of my dreams, was I in one of those?

I looked down at my clothes, just my simple t-shirt and jeans, which looked like they had at least tripled in size since before I had tripped.

"Bofur, give the lass a chance to breathe, she's clearly been through some type of ordeal." A larger man with grayish-white hair wrapped around his head in intricate braids yelled at the other.

Why did that name sound familiar, like I had read it in a book or something? Why did this all seem familiar?

"Out of my way!" I heard a loud voice say from the back of the group.

"Mr. Gandalf! We found the lass on the edge of the river!" Someone said. I froze as I saw the large man, now towering over me and the name associated with him.

"G-gandalf?" I sputtered, unbelieving. There was no way... no way I could be here. This was a dream, or something. Maybe my overly creative imagination was trying to trick me again and I really did hit my head hard.

"My dear, it has been quite a long time." I looked up at the super tall man wearing all gray as he reached a hand out to help me stand up. I noticed night was falling and I was so beyond confused.

"What do you mean? Where am I?" I asked quickly, my eyes darting around as I looked to all of the people surrounding me. They were my height, where as Gandalf towered over us all.

"You, my dear, are in Middle-Earth, the Shire, to be more precise." Gandalf replied. Dear lord, if this was Middle Earth, then those were dwarves and if there were dwarves... _Dwarves_. Why did that sound so familiar?

"This must be another dream..." I mumbled.

"I can assure you, my lady, that this is no dream. Though you were still quite young, the last I saw you." I looked up at the tall wizard curiously. I was beyond confused now.

"What do you mean, the last you saw me?" I asked curiously.

"Master Dwarves, you go on ahead and we will catch up to you." Gandalf told the group of dwarves who nodded and went along talking amongst themselves as they walked into the night. "You do not remember what happened before you left us?"

I looked up at Gandalf with a strange expression and shook my head.

"I don't remember hardly anything from my childhood, though I have been getting these strange dreams of a woman." I said honestly.

"You were born here, my dear." I twisted my head to look at him in shock.

"_What?!" _I practically yelled to him.

"Well, not exactly here in the Shire, but in Middle Earth, in Erebor. Your mother was part of King Thror's counsel." Gandalf continued. Erebor, wait- The Lonely Mountain? The last of the greatest dwarf kingdoms of Middle Earth?

"Would that make me a-,"

"Dwarf, yes." Gandalf replied.

"And you knew my mother?" I asked with hardly any sound in my voice.

"I knew _of_ her, yes. Though there is someone else who will be able to tell you more about her. All I know is that you were very young when Smaug came and your mother left you in the care of another before passing on." Gandalf replied. Smaug the dragon, the rumbling...

"Then how did I get to Earth? My parents, well the people who raised me said they found me running through the woods." I asked, my mind was almost at the point of exploding from too much information.

"I do not know. You went missing, never to be seen again until this day, though it was foretold that you would return." Gandalf told me. I just stared ahead as we walked, letting the information sink in.

"How did you know it was me?" I asked curiously.

"A wizard knows, my dear, and you were clutching this." Gandalf said as he handed me the necklace. Like it was a habit, I unclasped it and placed it around my neck, relishing in the feeling of the cold metal on my skin.

"Wait, if you said I was alive when Smaug came, that would make me like over 170 years old!" I gasped. How was that possible? "I've only been on Earth for 16 years!"

"It seems, my dear, that time passes much differently in this realm. You are indeed 173 years old, though your appearance would suggest you are only in your mid 70-80s for a dwarf." Gandalf replied. All this information was too much for me and as we walked up the small hill towards the round doors of a place I knew as Hobbiton, I promptly fainted.

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**POSTING SPREE!**


	2. Chapter 2

When I woke, I was surrounded by the sound of dishes clinking and a rather loud song being sung. Everything seemed to come rushing back to me as I sat upright on the couch I had been placed on. My head ached from all of the information that was being processed. I was born in Middle Earth?

I seemed to have a cloak placed overtop of me, presumably due to the fact that my clothing was so large that it was nearly falling off of me. The song stopped and I heard someone approaching me.

"Oh, you're awake!" Someone said as they came out of the shadows. His long dark curly hair sitting just below his shoulders, a decent stubble resting on his chin, not as hairy as the rest of the dwarves I'd seen, but very handsome, indeed.

He stood there staring at me for a moment before offering his hand to help me up. I quickly tied the cloak around my neck and stood, taking his hand to help.

"Forgive me, my name is Kili." He said as he bowed in front of me.

"I am…" I was about to say my name when there was a knock at the door.

The front entrance was out of my sight but I could hear the encounter between Thorin (whose voice was oddly familiar to me) and Bilbo. I then heard shuffling as they were approaching the dining room and the dwarves in front of me moved, causing Thorin to look directly at me.

He looked at me confused at first, then he moved closer until his eyes caught sight of my necklace.

"No, it cannot be." He whispered. He reached up and gently touched my face, then my necklace. "Aria?"

I knew in my heart that I knew him, but I just couldn't remember. I cleared my throat and looked up at him.

"Yes?" I asked quietly. His eyes scanned over me, noting the mud and leaves stuck in my hair.

"How is this possible? You disappeared 160 years ago, yet you look as if you are only in your 70's. Where were you? How did you come back?" Thorin asked. I didn't know how to respond.

"All will be revealed in time, Thorin. I ask that, though there are many questions, they be asked later. I do believe that our surprise guest is still rather shaken up." Gandalf spoke, looking at Thorin who reluctantly nodded his head. "Now shall we move on to more important business?"

With my head still reeling, I tried to search the furthest reaches of my mind for anything that I could remember about this place or the man sitting at the end of the table. I saw the same flashes that I always saw in my dreams, nothing more.

Meanwhile, the dwarves were discussing the quest, all at the expense of Bilbo's consciousness. I was shaken from my thoughts as I heard him hit the ground.

"Bofur, Dori, please move Mr. Baggins to the chair. It may be some time before he wakes. Please have a cup of tea ready for him when he does." Gandalf said before he motioned for Thorin and I to follow him outside. I did so timidly, unsure of myself.

"Gandalf, how is this possible? Aria disappeared 160 years ago. How can this be her?" Thorin asked Gandalf as we stepped outside.

"It is her, Thorin Oakenshield. She says she remembers her mother, although very little. Time moved much slower in the world she was in compared to ours. It was foretold by Galadriel that she would return, but it was never spoken as to when." Gandalf replied.

"Can we please stop speaking as if I'm not standing right here? I'm just as confused, if not more so, and at the moment, I believe you both know more than I do about myself, so if you could please share? Maybe starting with _who _you are and _why_ you are so familiar to me?" I asked with both of them staring at me incredulously.

"I apologize, Aria. I am Thorin, as you've heard. Your father, Demr, was a close friend as I grew up in Erebor, one of my grandfather, King Thror's, council. Unfortunately, your father was killed by orcs during a trip to the Iron Hills right before you were born. Your mother, Akari, gave birth to you just days after his death and took his place on the council. I had made a promise to Demr to help Akari if something should happen to him, and I held that promise. They were in their 80s when they had you, and I was still young, barely older than a child at 22 years old when you were born, but I did my best to help. When Smaug came, you were 3 years old, still just a babe. Your mother tried to get you out of Erebor but got trapped by falling rubble. She gave you to me and asked me to keep you safe with her last breath. I took you in as my own for 10 years, before you went missing during the battle of Azanulbizar. I thought you dead for all these years…" Thorin told me as he wiped a tear from my cheek. I hadn't even realized that I had tears running down my face as he spoke.

"It was you." I said, thinking of the man in my dreams.

"You remember?" He asked me, confused.

"I've been having dreams for months now, all the same one. I've dreamed of a woman screaming and telling a man in blue to keep me safe. The woman is my mother and the man is you, isn't it?" I asked.

Thorin nodded and slowly put his arms around me, pulling me into a tight but apprehensive hug.

"I've missed you, Aria. I searched for years after you disappeared. I'm sorry I failed you." Thorin said as he pulled back and held my shoulders.

"It wasn't your fault, Thorin. I don't even know how I was sent away, and I doubt it could have been prevented, so please don't blame yourself." I told him.

He was about to say something else but was cut off by the door opening.

"Uncle, I don't mean to interrupt, but Balin wanted to speak with you." Fili told Thorin as he walked outside.

"We will continue this conversation at a later time, _nathith._" Thorin said to me with warmth in his eyes. I nodded but wondered what he called me, knowing it sounded familiar. Fili's eyebrows rose as he heard it, making me even more curious.

I walked inside behind them and sat down on the window seat, thinking about what Thorin had said.

"You seem to have made quite the impression on uncle, not many can make him speechless like you did." I heard from behind me.

I turned around and saw Kili standing there and I silently motioned for him to sit across from me.

"It's a long story," I said truthfully, "one that I don't even remember." I whispered the last part more to myself.

"Are you coming with us our journey to Erebor?" He asked curiously. I looked up at him with a small smile.

"Of course." I responded, having a feeling that Thorin wouldn't be happy about it, but there was no option in my mind. I was going home.

"If that is so, then you may need some different clothing until we can stop in the village of Bree to get you some new gear. Here, come with me." He said, standing up and holding out his hand for me to take. I took it and followed him into the other room where their packs were.

He went to one of the packs and took out an extra pair of breeches with a deep blue tunic, and a pair of boots, then handed them to me.

"Thank you. You didn't have to do this for me." I told him as I took the clothing from him.

"Its no problem at all, and keep the cloak as well, I believe it fits you better than me." He said with a wink. I looked down, having forgotten I had even been wearing it.

I walked to a room around the corner and changed out of my oversized clothing. Feeling much better in clothes that fit, I walked back into the room where everyone was now sitting in front of the fireplace, humming.

Kili motioned for me to come over and stand by him and Fili, so I walked over to them and leaned against the wall, closing my eyes as I listened to the song resonating around me as Thorin leaned against the mantle and began to sing.

"_Far over the Misty Mountains cold,_

_to dungeons deep, and caverns old._

_We must away, ere break of day,_

_To find our long forgotten gold. _

_The pines were roaring on the height,_

_The winds were moaning in the night, _

_The fire was red, it flaming spread;_

_The trees like torches blazed in light."_

As I listened to him sing, it brought back a string of memories, hearing that voice, that song. It felt like home. I remembered something, even if it was very little, it was something.

**A/N- I am trying to work on several stories at once, but this one I just love the main plot line and I just couldn't let it slip through the cracks, so heres Chapter 2. **


	3. Chapter 3

I woke the next morning very early, and still tired. I felt like I didn't have any true rest at all. I remembered so much. It all came to me in a dream, and it was overwhelming.

I wandered outside, careful not to wake anyone. I had streams of tears rolling down my face as I sat on the bench at the bottom of the stairs, watching the sunrise over the rolling hills of the Shire.

How could I have forgotten such a large part of my life? I was still getting flashes of memories, each of them just as important as the last. Important milestones in my childhood.

I still remembered very little of my mother, though I guessed that I was still too young at the time to remember much before she died. Most of my memories were of Thorin, even some of Balin, Dwalin, and Gandalf.

I heard the door open behind me, and I knew at once who it was.

"Ada." I whispered, wiping my eyes.

"You remember?" He asked, now standing in front of me.

I nodded my head, teary eyed. "Even about that time that you and I skipped out on my training because we overslept after staying up too late when you were teaching me about the stars." I told him, remembering that night like it was yesterday.

He laughed deeply and held out his hand to help me up. "It's not like we could get in trouble seeing as I was the one in charge." He said, still laughing.

"Yes, but Dwalin wasn't too happy that I missed any training." I responded and he nodded, agreeing. "But I did always have the best teacher at home to make up any time lost." I said as I hugged him tightly. "I missed you, Da. I felt it in my bones that I was missing something, I just didn't know what until now." I told him as he held me close. "Are you still okay with me calling you Da, or would you prefer if I call you Thorin. I know it's been years and you aren't really my Da, but—,"

"Always, _nathith. _ You'll forever be my daughter, if not by blood, then by heart." He said and then sat down next to me.

"So this is really happening. We are going home." I said, looking out at the sun as it rose into the sky. Thorin looked at me like I grew a second head.

"No, you will be going to the Blue Mountains to help Dis." He said seriously.

"You may be Da to me, but I am old enough to make my own decisions. I am going to Erebor. It's just as much my home as it was yours. You cannot deny me my right." I told him honestly.

"It is too dangerous. I cannot risk losing you again after I just got you back. I will not allow it." He said, bringing out the authority in his voice.

"I will be going." I told him as I stood to walk inside. "What if something happened to you on this quest, and you had sent me off to the Blue Mountains, missing any extra time you could've had with me? Have you thought of that? I'd rather live this life here that I've gotten a second chance at, and not waste it. I'm not a child anymore, let me prove it to you." I said, not giving him the chance to reply before I walked inside, leaving him to his thoughts.

After walking inside, I noticed someone sitting next to the open window by the door. I turned to see who it was, seeing blonde hair.

"I heard what you call him, and he you." It was Fili sitting by the window, peering out into the morning light.

"It's not what you think." I told him.

"How is it not? He calls you daughter in our language, and you call him father." He said. I had to give that to him, from the outside it would look as though that's how it was.

"Thorin is not my birth father. It is a long story, but Thorin took me in when I was a babe and raised me as his own." I told him honestly. He looked at me, confused.

"How can that be? Thorin has been like a father to Kili and I since we were born, yet I have no memory of you." He asked curiously.

"That's because this happened about 80 years before you were born." I told him truthfully. His eyes widened.

"There is no way, you look younger than both Kili and I." He said and I agreed.

"I was born 173 years ago. When I was 13 years old, I went missing. I was sent to another land by magic. Time moved differently there. I was only there for 16 years, then I ended up back here yesterday. Gandalf estimated that I am only in my 70s or 80s now that I am back. Though I'd argue more towards the 80s because in the other world I had been an adult for 3 years, which would be equal to many more than that here." I said in one long breath, "Confusing, I know. We'll just say I'm about your age."

"Wow. I will say that it'll be a relief to my brother that you aren't related by blood." He said laughing. I was confused until I realized what he meant. "Anyways, will you be joining us on our journey?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Yes, though your Uncle was not to happy about that. He wanted me to go back to the Blue Mountains and help your mother." I told him.

"He didn't want Kili going either, but you and Kili must have similar mindsets. Once set, nothing will stop you." He responded and I nodded, agreeing.

"I dare say that you are right, my dear Fili." I said laughing before hearing the door open.

**Review, please. :)**


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